Alumni in Careers
A BOOMERANG STORY TIMES TWO | Madera-Bound Boomerang Brianna
By Frédéric Martin, Editor-in-Chief
BORN AND RAISED here in Madera, Brianna Reyes Flores, started her education at Howard Elementary, spent one junior year at Jefferson Middle school and finished her middle school back at Howard. She obtained her high school degree from Madera High, as a member of a large valedictorian class, with an impressive 4.17 GPA.
Excelling at soccer in the center back position, she joined the Fresno City College soccer program, with a winning team that placed fourth in the state championship during her Freshman year. She played soccer at FCC, for another year, while completing her basic college requirements as she decidedly initiated her path towards medicine, taking every biology class in sight. She then transferred and completed her bachelor’s degree at Fresno Pacific University.
Working as an aide at the California Imaging Institute, an outpatient diagnostic center, where she gained the clinical experience needed for her to apply to a Physician’s Assistant school. She then volunteered at Clovis community hospital. A year later, Brianna moved to Los Angeles, having been admitted into the master’s program at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. She obtained her master’s degree in health science and now works at the Northeast Community Clinic in Hawthorne, CA, in a family medicine practice. She may eventually change her specialty; as she underscored during our interview, Brianna likes that her training has prepared her to choose a career in many medical fields; she does not wish to become a doctor and her physician’s assistant degree gives her the flexibility to change her field of practice as opportunities appear on her path.
These days, Brianna no longer plays soccer but enjoys playing beach volleyball, an activity she in which she can easily partake as she currently lives in Redondo Beach. She loves leisure reading and cooking. Her favorite teacher, back home in Madera, was Mrs Lancaster, English teacher, “who taught me to write with passion and allowed me to realize that I was actually good at writing and creating with words as a form to express myself”. Her husband, Justin Flores, is almost done with school, also aiming for a career as a physician’s assistant.
Brianna and Justin are looking forward to moving back to Madera as soon as they can after he graduates. Their extended families are here in Madera, and they try to visit them as often as their busy schedules allow. Both are looking forward to bringing their professional skills back to their hometown to be close to their families. As it stands, their goal is to leave Los Angeles sometime in 2021, after Justin completes his physician assistant education in December 2020.
Congratulations to them both! Madera and their families are certainly looking forward to welcoming boomerang couple Brianna and Justin back into our and their community.
